This probably sounds like a stupid idea, but what if there was a way to super heat what is left of the studs.
Kinda like when your stick welding & the rod sticks & turns the whole rod red hot.

Seems like I had read that somewhere, that somebody took a stick welder & did that to remove some studs, dont remember all had to be done though.
Neil

 

Got mine cherry red with a welder, still didn't budge. Sometimes the only way is drilling. Those that do get out a broken one by welding, well they are the lucky ones.

 

Think about this as well.
When you start up in the morning, well anytime your about to travel, do you let the engine heat up good before you drive off, or just blast right off.

If you take right off & the engines cold, those exhaust manifolds are really taking a beating with expanding as well as those studs holding them to the heads which are still somewhat cold or cool.
With the part of the stud that is in the head & being cold, it cant expand, but the outer part of the stud that is heating up with the mainfolds are, so after some time the close part of the stud next to the head give up.

Now this is just another idea.
What if we had a stud that had larger threads where it screws into the head & then have a shoulder that would stick out, kinda like a dowel pin & then the regular stock size of the stud out to where the nut screws on.
The manifolds would need to have the inner part of the mounting holes counter sunked, so that the dowel part of the stud could fit in, that way with a stud like that, should one break off it probably would be in the area where the stud is smaller & not up close to the head & would be enough left of the stud to use a stud puller.
It is amazing what a little bit of anti seize lube will do to a bolt or stud.
Neil

 

Finished! Took awhile, but I wasn't in a hurry as for I do have spare trucks. Plus wasn't able to work on it for a solid week due to work. Got away with only drilling 3. Had to use a heli-coil for 1 hole that got mangled a little. I replaced the studs with zinc coated metric grade 12.9 hex head bolts, 8mm×1.25×35mm, with a single flat washer, copper antiseize, torqued to 20ftlbs. All in all it wasn't very tough. Time and patience is key. My brother's truck is next.

 

I'm in the middle of mine right now. Pass side had six broken studs below the surface. 5 I got out with drilling and easy outs. One I had to completely drill and insert a helicoil. Very frustrating job to say the least. I'm going to tackle the drivers side this evening after work. It's amazing how salt makes working on things so difficult. Anthony

 

Congrats!

Keep at it, I extracted all 20 of mine after cutting the nuts off all of them.
15 out with a stud extractor
1 out with r/a drill and easy out
4 drilled with r/a and r/a dremel, all the way out using 6 bits increasing in size until all the threads were gone - took 6 days of drilling.

Patience is the key...

 

It's midnight and I just finished the drivers side. Only 3 broken studs compared to 6 on the pass side. Got 19 out and one required a helicoil and I'm so glad it's over for now. I must love this rig as my wife mentioned I would of sold most others before doing all this work. Guess she's right. Thanks to those who posted all the tips regarding this job. Anthony.

 

Post some reps for Sammie up there---she's been extremely helpful here sharing her own approach that seems to work very well!

 

Thanks JWA just trying to help, no expert but this is one area where I've been down and dirty and up close and personal, so always try to share my experiences and what worked for me.

 

Forgot to mention that not stud came out by welding a nut to it. I tried that with four studs without success. Furthermore not one came out with a left handed bit even with heating the head. This was a very tedious slow job. Engine is much quieter. I didn't realize how bad they were leaking. I thought it had either lifter tick or piston slap in the mornings which would go away once warmed up. All that noise is gone. Thanks again. Anthony

 

Just completed this on my '00 Excursion. I had been replacing a lot of stuff under my truck due to the excessive amount of rust, (p/o must have parked it in the ocean from the looks of it). I came up with a simple way of removing severely corroded bolts that may help others. I didn't even bother trying to remove the nuts from the studs, just cut them off and removed the manifolds as per Sammie's suggestion. Next I heated each stud until cherry red with my oxy/acetylene torch, then immediately sprayed it with CRC's "Freeze and Release" until it stopped throwing off smoke/fumes. (There will be A LOT of smoke). I then used an 8mm stud removal socket to back them out. Not one broke, and they came out with little to no effort. The extreme temperature swings completely breaks the bond between the stud and head. Total time from start to finish for both sides was about 2 hours. Now I'm waiting for the Banks headers to arrive.

 

I will have to get me one of those didn't have one during my saga. Well never ever plan to do that again but good to know for any frozen bolt. What did you cut the bolts off with? Few of those on the driver's side are fun at reach with a cutting wheel.

 

Sammie, I used my plasma-cutter to get in there. I have a really small cutting torch for getting into tight spots like those. How do you like the Banks Torque tube set up? After reading a lot of posts, I chose them because of all the positive reviews and quality of them.

 

I like them. I got the headers and the full monster exhaust - replaced the CAT as well, so my experience may be different than yours. I also installed the 5 star tune and for the first time since I got this truck it will chirp the tires. It was a sick dog before with the manifold leaks.

They are louder than stock, not so much as idle but on take off 10-30mph my oldest son calls them "obnoxious" but on the highway I do not notice they are there, I insulated well and have no heat issues either.

And man I got to get me one of those too.....the dremel cut off method was an adventure in itself. But was the only thing small enough to reach the 2nd and 3rd ones on the drivers side. If you haven't done your headers yet, one word of advice, start soaking the bottom side of your dipstick tube now soak it daily in something to loosen it up, it has to be removed and it's in a really bad spot to get any leverage. Also plan on someone with small hands helping you do the initial thread in of the bolts.

 

Two weeks into the jb with the Titan remover in hand six of ten baked out 'easily'. Then we got to the four that broke off below the surface. Drilled them by steping sizes, went well with a self centering wood working vix bit. PB blasted for days then werrily tried the spiral extractor and snapped it of in the first attempt.
Question: Since the extractor is case hardened and splintered so the self centering bit would have no chance, what's next? Figured I will continue to step drill the remainder and resort to helicoils if that does not go well.
Awesome posts Sammie. Great reflection as my process also, thanks Russ